The PlayStation 4's been ticking along in its native Japan for some time, but it rarely racks up any amazing numbers unless a slew of big new-gen games all launch within a few weeks of each other. Last week's belated figures make for some rather dire reading, then, as Sony's latest box managed to hit its lowest total in months.
The good news for the company is that there's an understandable reason for this in that the PS4's price is being cut in Japan at the start of October. As such, consumers in the Land of the Rising Sun are unsurprisingly holding off on buying the box until the drop hits. Nevertheless, it'll be interesting to see how big an impact the lowered price will have on future sales.
Hardware sales
- New 3DS LL – 19,811 (21,504)
- PlayStation Vita – 19,471 (9,018)
- Wii U – 16,033 (20,891)
- PlayStation 4 – 8,375 (18,555)
- New 3DS – 4,672 (4,214)
- PlayStation 3 – 2,411 (2,628)
- 3DS – 1,527 (1,275)
- PlayStation Vita TV – 739 (462)
- Xbox One – 737 (207)
- 3DS LL – 729 (836)
Software sales
- [3DS] Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon (Nintendo, 09/17/15) – 151,823 (New)
- [Wii U] Super Mario Maker (Nintendo, 09/10/15) – 54,544 (192,785)
- [3DS] Yo-kai Watch Busters: Red Cat Team / White Dog Squad (Nintendo, 07/11/15) – 36,979 (1,527,272)
- [3DS] Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King (Square Enix, 08/27/15) – 24,758 (758,874)
- [PSV] World Trigger: Borderless Mission (Bandai Namco, 09/17/15) – 23,334 (New)
- [PS4] Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Konami, 09/02/15) – 20,635 (357,075)
- [3DS] Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer (Nintendo, 07/30/15) – 18,627 (1,028,888)
- [Wii U] Splatoon (Nintendo, 05/28/15) – 16,772 (660,759)
- [PS3] Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Konami, 09/02/15) – 16,288 (156,474)
- [PSV] Resident Evil Revelations 2 (Capcom, 09/17/15) – 15,932 (New)
- [PS3] Samurai Warriors 4: Empires (Koei Tecmo, 09/17/15) – 14,297 (New)
- [3DS] Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airou Village DX (Capcom, 09/10/15) – 14,034 (73,490)
- [PSV] Saki: The Nationals (Kaga Create, 09/17/15) – 13,698 (New)
- [PSV] Samurai Warriors 4: Empires (Koei Tecmo, 09/17/15) – 13,056 (New)
- [PS4] Samurai Warriors 4: Empires (Koei Tecmo, 09/17/15) – 11,360 (New)
- [PSV] Minecraft: PlayStation Vita Edition (SCE, 03/19/15) – 8,244 (332,663)
- [PS4] Destiny: The Taken King (SCEJ, 09/17/15) – 6,643 (New)
- [3DS] Rhythm Heaven: The Best+ (Nintendo, 06/11/15) – 5,866 (468,228)
- [PSV] Yunohana SpRING! (Idea Factory, 09/17/15) – 4,561 (New)
- [Wii U] Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo, 05/29/14) – 4,095 (1,126,412)
[source 4gamer.net, via gematsu.com]
Comments 8
Good numbers for the ps vita.
@brendon987 And people say the Vita is dead. I've noticed that the Vita has been in the top 3 multiple times of late.
If Sony would pump out a few more big first party games im sure sales would pick up in the west. Maybe another Uncharted, an Infamous and if they could get Rockstar to make a GTA for it that would sure help sell it. Besides, don't Rockstar still owe Sony an exclusive game.
If the price drop doesn't bump it back up to 20K and if it doesn't stay there consistently afterwards you can write the PS4 off. Even with some good games announced for that market, people clearly aren't interested especially when you can still get all but one or two on other Sony platforms.
@WARDIE
Only on Japan, but to modern standarts, Japanese sales only, are not enough to save a console/handheld.
In financial news this week Japan have announced a new round of Abenomics to address the poor state of their economy. Consumption has been down in all areas of the economy, not just the consoles. I believe the low console sales are the new norm for the Japanese market.
Unlike in the West the Japanese will not buy things on credit as a rule, especially non-essential things. I think you will find they will save for big releases and we will see a spike, then it will return to the current levels we are seeing.
It's noticeable that the games that tend to have the highest overall sales are aimed at children. I wonder if part of the problem is just that the gamer demographic isn't ageing in Japan as much as it is in the West. Over here the average gamer is 30-40 varying by platform. It would also tie in with the popularity of handhelds since they're more popular among children thanks to a lower price point of the penny-counting parents and the fact it doesn't take up a TV (and in Japan, they don't have about 3-4 TVs per household like the average US house. Futhermore, it'd tie in with mobile gaming really taking off over there, especially ones with very cartoony graphics and simplistic gameplay like Puzzle and Dragons.
@Matroska Or maybe the aging gamer demographic in Japan doesn't really buy the ridiculous idea that "grown up" games have to prioritise gore and violence in order to validate themselves as adults?
Woah what's up with the Xbox One spike, that's double last weeks.
Still not good but still.
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